


Balls and Proposals

by AlexZorlok



Category: Pandora Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Marriage Proposal, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 12:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21161834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexZorlok/pseuds/AlexZorlok
Summary: The ball in the Rufus Barma's mansion indeed brought with itself happy love aftermath, even if it wasn't the one the duke was going for.





	Balls and Proposals

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written on April 22, 2015. From my fic notes back then, because I find it hillarious how naive I was: 'So a day before the last PH chapter I could clearly see how everything will end up well, and they will arrange a tea party on Vincent and Ada's wedding. Oh well. I mean, there was a tea party. There was even a wedding, although not for Vincent and Ada. Not even for Rufus and Sheryl. Oh well.'
> 
> Anyway, I still like this one, so please enjoy!

There was a ball arranged in the Barma’s mansion. That was the reason for all the fuss since the early morning: duke Rufus himself had ordered for everything to be of the highest quality. He himself couldn’t just sit around without taking action, instead running around to check how everything’s working work. The evening should have been perfect, after all, even if the ball didn’t hold any known purpose. Rufus was the only one who did know the purpose: he’d had a dream the other night, a wonderful, colorful dream, in which he and Sheryl Rainsworth had finally arranged a wedding. And so, feeling inspired as ever, the duke decided it would only be right to arrange a ball that would give him an opportunity to propose to the lady once more.

Vincent was standing by the mirror, readjusting his bowtie. In a few more minutes, he would be in the carriage, on his way to the Barma mansion. For reasons unknown to him, the shaggy duke had decided to arrange a ball this weekend, so that was supposed to be interesting. The shaggy duke… Ugh, he really should have spent less time with the hatter.

“Vincent?” Elliot knocked at the door, impatiently, “Everyone’s waiting for you.”

Nightray nodded and left the room, throwing one last look at himself. He was sat in the same carriage with Elliot, Leo, and Vanessa, who was supposed to leave earlier with Ernest and Claud, according to the plan, but Gilbert didn’t show up. Gilbert hasn’t been to the mansion at all, lately; Vincent really wondered whether he was going to see him at the ball. In general, his brother wasn’t the type for events like this one, but he couldn’t throw away the possibility that he would come together with Oz. There was no doubt that the House of Vessalius was invited, and talking about them— 

Since the House of Vessalius was invited, so was lady Ada, and he was going to see her there. The thing was that, lately, Vincent’s feelings around her could only be described as… awkward. The reason didn’t even hide in her strange hobbies, Vincent was long used to these. A thought had crossed his mind that he could be allergic. Could one be? Allergic to a certain person, a certain…  _ Vessalius _ ? There was no other explanation to his strange behavior around Ada, not one that he could find. Lottie, on her hand, had suggested that he might be in love, but Vincent dismissed it without further thought. What would that even  _ mean _ ? Gilbert was the only person he had ever loved. Maybe Elliot, too, but that was a given.

“Vince?” Elliot tore his gaze from the book he and leo had been reading and gazed instead at Vincent, suspicious, “Is… everything alright?”

“Hm?”

Vincent blinked. Vanessa was throwing him a side-look, and Elliot seemed genuinely confused. Apparently, he had been so lost in his own thoughts that he kept staring ahead, not tearing his eyes away from that same place. Which, by coincidence, had been where Leo was sitting.

“No, it’s nothing.” Elliot shook his head. The confused look on Vincent’s own face appeared sincere enough for him to stop questioning — at the very least, if killing Leo with his sight wasn’t in his brother’s plans, there was also no reason for Elliot to intervene.

Vincent sighed and turned away to look at the window instead. They were about to arrive, and he had put all his strength into thinking about anything but Ada Vessalius.

“Gil! I’m so glad I got to see you here.” Vincent cheerfully waved to his brother, who he had luck to see arriving mere minutes after their on carriage had stopped.

Gilbert arrived, as expected, together with Oz, miss Alice, and lady Sharon with her precious Xerxes Break. Vincent had to admit to himself that he was relieved to not see miss Ada together with them, but he pushed these thoughts aside, too, enjoying the moment. Gilbert smiled back at him.

“Hi, Vince.”

They walked into the mansion together, excluding only Vanessa, who had already disappeared into the crows, not exactly preferring the company that three different Houses were making.

“The shaggy duke worked hard on this indeed.” Break murmured, and he was right.

The decorations around the whole were indeed impressive, from the flowers and their attractive scent to neatly folded napkins and rich choice of snacks on the tables to the music that was unobtrusively played in another corner. Vincent got caught up in taking it all in, until another familiar voice forced him out of it.

“Oz! We have been waiting!”

It was Mr Oscar Vessalius coming for them from the depth of the mansion, waving and smiling, miss Ada, of course, under his elbow. Upon seeing the young lady, Vincent made a deep sigh, adjusting his bowtie again, more on impulse than anything else.

“Good evening, Mr Oscar,” he greeted, “Miss Ada.”

“Good evening, Mr Vincent.” Ada’s smile was contagious, and Vincent gave in, smiling back at her as her attention switched to the rest of the group, greeting her brother and everyone else.

Vincent stepped aside, letting the friends indulge in their own friendly conversation. Resting his back against one of the walls, he started to look around the hall again, his gaze wandering from vases full on flowers to familiar and not-so faces that were too busy to step closer. There were way more people now than there had been when he arrived, but Vincent could easily follow Rufus Barma himself, who appeared to be looking for someone as he steadily stepped around. That someone would probably be miss Sheryl Rainsworth, he supposed. When he looked back at his own company, he saw Elliot trying to get some movement but being stopped by Leo, and now the two were involved in a heated conversation with young duke of Vessalius. Gilbert and Alice couldn’t stand aside and joined them, although Vincent was sure that neither of them really knew what the debate was about — they probably took Oz’s side right away. He heard uncle Oscar laughing about something, and Xerxes responding with one of his signature jokes, which miss Sharon didn’t miss. All in all, that was everything any of the Houses could have wanted it to be.

“It is a beautiful day, isn’t it, Mr Vincent?”

Vincent actually flinched, turning his head, only to see Ada right next to him. He hadn’t noticed her getting so close, could swear he hadn’t heard the steps. It took him a moment to get his stance back, but when he did, he blurted the words out without thinking:

“It really is. Would… Would you like to go for a walk?”

He mentally cursed himself and hoped to hear her declining the offer, maybe in favor of spending more time with her brother and uncle, but by just one look at the girl’s happy face it was obvious, that that wasn’t what was going to happen.

“I would love to,” Ada said, to his disappointment.

Their departure wasn’t left unnoticed either, as Oscar immediately looked away from Break, frowning, with a bit of surprise on his face, at the backs of the two getting closer to the exit.

“Uhm, Gilbert? Where could your brother be taking my niece, do tell me.”

The rest of the group also noticed lack of the couple standing, and Vincent could already feel that his next face-to-face with either Oz or Me Oscar wouldn’t bring him anything good.

But it wasn’t so bad, for the two of them. He and Ada were taking a quiet walk in the garden, which felt refreshing at least because of the lack of people — and, therefore, noise — alone. The weather was nice, too, and Vincent fully accepted the wind blowing at his hair to calm his mind. He really needed it, especially considering he had no idea what to do around Ada, the girl right at his side. He wanted to say something— but there were no words he could let out, and it seemed that the silence didn’t bother Ada in the slightest.

Soon enough they reached a pavilion, surrounded by bushes of red roses, tea supplies set on the table, which, Vincent supposed, were left there by the duke since the morning. Ada wasn’t looking at him, instead taking in the beauty of the garden from the opposite side, and Vincent spent a moment just looking at her instead. The idea that crossed his head was crazy, to say the least, but it was a strange period in Vincent’s life, and, since he already was unsure of what to do… He took a spare hair tie out of a pocket of his jacket and used it to tie together some stolen roses from one of the bushes. He coughed, bringing the girl’s attention back to him.

“Miss Ada,” when her eyes were on his, he continued: “Would you please accept my humble gift?”

Ada’s hands trembled as she took the newly bouquet into her hands, and the subject of where Nightray got flowers from — and the fact of all of the bushes around — wasn’t of her concern at all. Vincent couldn’t blame her; he didn’t care about either of those when preparing the present. He smiled the widest he’d had in awhile, looking at Ada’s happy, flushed face.

“It’s… no trouble.”

Something clicked inside of him, at that moment, Ada a step away from him, her face buried in flowers, so much  _ love  _ in her eyes that he— He could only just think up another crazy idea, third of that night, if he was to count the invitation for a walk, too. He heard Lottie’s voice in his hand again, and, of course, she had been right. As always, it seemed.

“Miss— No, no, it shouldn’t be… Ada,” Vincent closed his eyes, breathing in, “Ada. Will you marry me?”

He hadn’t thought much about these words— But that was the only logical solution he came to, and in the mess that was inside of his head, hidden inside all of the uncertainty and unknowing, it was something that felt right. He didn’t have any doubts, offering it, was what he realized. Well, the only doubt was that maybe, maybe he would regret it later if Ada had said no— But that was hard to consider a possibility, after looking at young lady’s face.

Then, the only other doubt was that he had to quickly come up with a way to not be killed by any other Vessalius, once they find out about the newly circumstances.

Just like that, the ball in the Barma mansion could be called successful. Its aftermath turned out according to the plan, after all. The duke, however, wasn’t exactly satisfied— He had tried his best, really, proposing his love to Sheryl in the dark of the night, but it was doomed to fail miserably. That was to be expected, of course, but Rufus was convinced that the only reason for his failure was the lack of a few roses in one of the bushes — that certainly hadn’t set the romantic atmosphere well. Reim Lunettes, however, sent afterwards to investigate, was more concerned about the fact of the roses missing than he was about the duke being rejected again. Who could possibly have it in them to steal roses from the mansion’s garden?


End file.
